Vehicle wheel suspension



Nov. 24, 1936. M. POIRIER VEHICLE WHEEL SUSPENSION Filed Sept. 20, 1934 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 R. O T N E v m &

AT TO EIY Nov. 24, 1936.

M. POIRIER 2,062,233 VEHICLE WHEEL SUSPENSION Filed Sept. 20, 1934 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 .mllll'" ,mlll

|NV ENTOR f 7 m BY mim ATTORK/EY NOV. 24, 1936.3 POlRIER I VEHICLE WHEEL SUSPENSION Filed Sept. 20, 1934 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Grim/M Patented Nov. 24, 1?36 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE VEHICLE WHEEL SUSPENSION Maurice Poirier, Burbank, Califl, assignor of nineteen one-hundredths to William I. F. George, Burbank, Calif.

Application September 20, 1934, Serial No. 744,827

2 Claims. (01. 2267-19).

and to cause them to travel over bumps andl undulations with a ratio of three to one, and

means controlling such ratio by the lift of the wheels in order to eliminate to the minimum, the bouncing in driving and when the brakes of the vehicle are applied so as to reduce the un- 15 sprung weight and to avoid transmission thereof to any one part of the suspension.

It is further aimed to provide a novel construction of chassis or frame having X reinforcing beams, aiding in positively maintaining the 20 wheels in alinement with the chassis and preventing undue strain on any one part of the vehicle, so that the unsprung weight is divided to five points for each wheel.

It is further aimed to provide a spring mount- 25 ing utilizing semielliptic springs to support the chassis upon the wheels and effect an action at the ratio of one to three, which maintains the chassis frame level, and at the same time gives the necessary freedom of motion of the wheels 30 described to respond to road shocks, on a basic ratio without disturbing the level of the chassis frame.

In addition, it is aimed to provide a novel construction of bracket arms and coacting bearings,

5 to provide a more rigid construction, avoid undue wear, eliminate end play, and keep the wheels in alinement with the chassis frame.

Various additional objects and advantages will in part be pointed out hereinafter and other- 40 wise become apparent from a consideration of the accompanying drawings illustrating an operative embodiment.

In said drawings:'

Figure l is a view primarily in plan and partly 45 in section, showing my improvement applied in' Figure 5 is adetail horizontal sectional view showing one of the mounting elements for one of the front wheels;

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view taken on the plane of line 66 of Figure 5;

Figure 7- is a rear view primarily in section 5 taken on the line of Figure 1;

Figure 8 is a plan view illustrating the steering connections for the frontwheels;

Figure 9 is a plan view showing the invention applied to a trailer;

Figure 10 is a vertical section taken on the plane of line l0lfl of Figure 9;

Figure 11 is a plan-view of a modified form of bracket mounting for the rear wheels;

Figure 12 is an elevatlonal view of the'bracket of Figure 11;

Figure 13 is a plan view of a modified form of lower front wheel mounting; and

Figure 14 is an elevational view of the wheel mounting of Figure 13.

Referring specifically to the drawings and first to the form of the invention disclosed in Figures 1 to 8, a suitable, usually steel, chassis frame is provided as at IU having side beams ll slightly converging towards the front of the vehicle. Such beams are jointed and reinforced by X- shaped elements or spiders l2, l3 and 14, respectively being adjacent the front, center and rear of the chassis frame. The beams H are spanned by cross beams l5 and I6 adjacent the connections with the'spider l3, and parallel beams l1 join the beams l6 and frame M, to form a more efficient support and mounting for a conventional differential drive l8 for the automobile.

Semielliptical laminated springs are provided at the front of the chassis frame at H) and at the rear of such frame at 20, being connected to the frame at one end by bolts as at 2|, and at the other end by means of shackles 22. It will be 40 noted that all of said springs l9 and 20 are in parallelism with the central longitudinal median line of the chassis frame.

The front wheels of the vehicle are designated 23 and are mounted for truly vertical movement, individually, and always from a horizontal axis, being adapted for steering in a novel manner. To this end, upper and lower mounting brackets are provided as at 24 and 25. The lower bracket is rigidly fastened to a stub shaft 26 journalled in suitable bearings 21 in the chassis frame I 0,

one of the latter being carried by struts 28 of the spider Ill. The stub shaft 26 is removably secured in place by nuts 29. The lower bracket 25 has parallel arms or bars 30 fastened rigidly to the stub shaft, and connected together by a strut as at 3|. At the rear end the arms'30 are joined by-an axle housing 32 in which'a rod 33 is removably journaled in suitable bearings 34, a

5 nut 35, for instance,- being used to secure the rod in place. Such rod at the outer end is equipped with a king pin 36. Disposed over each lower bracket are the aforesaid upper brackets 24, which are of triangular shape and at their for- 0 ward ends are pivoted removably by means of stub shafts 31 directly above the axes of the stub shafts 26. Said stub shafts 31 may be removable bolts engaged with the frame l0. At the rear end of the upper bracket 24, a tube 39 is pro- 15 vided in which a bolt or rod is journaled, serving to pivotally connect vertical links 4| through which the rod 33 also passes, to connect the links 7 to the lower bracket pivotally.

Said king pins 36 are journaled on vertical axes in hubs 31' carrying axles 38 on which the frames of, the wheels 23, designated 39, are journaled, with bearings as at 40' interposed. The

e wheels 23 have removable hub caps as at 4|, which expose nuts 42 used to secure the wheels to 25 the hubs 31, and nuts 43 which detachably secure sections of the wheel together so that they may i be dismounted. Substantially vertical links 45 are pivoted at their upper ends in bosses 46 of the lower brackets 25 and also pivoted in blocks 41 O secured in place for instance by U-bolts 48 and I plates 49, used to secure the laminations of the springs |9 together. The center support of the semi-elliptic springs is disposed one-third of the r spring length from the forward end of the same. 0 In order to steer the said front wheels, each hub 31"has an arcuate projection 5| thereon. Drag links 52 are pivoted on vertical axes 53 to the projections 5| and at 54 are pivoted on vertical axes to bell crank levers 55 pivoted as at 56 to the side beams II. In turn, a rod 51 connects saidbell crank levers, being pivoted thereto on ver-= tical axes at 53. One of the bell crank levers 55 has an extension 59 with which a rod 60 is pivotallyconnected on a vertical axis as at 6|, and 5 which is connected at the'rear, in any suitable way, to steering apparatus of the vehicle. The various pivotal connections as at 53, 54, 58 and 6| may be ball and socket joints or otherwise as,

preferred.

Reverting to Figures 5- and 6 the stub shafts 26 and their bearings 21,Jnay be removably mounted between blocks as at 6|, disposed in cut away portions 62 of the side beams H and held in place as by .means of bolts 63 passing through said 55 blocks and said side beams. Said bolts also pass through brackets 64, which mount the pivots 56' which are in the forni of bolts.

It will be noted that the rear spider l4 has struts at 65. Journaled in suitable bearings in 50 the beams II and said struts 65 are stub cross shafts 66 constituting parts for the m ting of rear wheels 61. Brackets 68 are rigidly connected to the stub shafts 66, such brackets including hubs 69 through which the rear axle 10 passes and which rear axle 10 at various locations has universal joints 1| therein to enable theaxle to displace as suggested in Figure '1, to accord with the individual vertical movement or yieldingof the rear wheels 61. From the hubs 69 diagonal bars 70 1| extend to the stub shafts 66, being clamped thereto as at 13. Also extending from said hubs 69 are rearwardly extending arms 14. and 15,

rigidly secured to stub shafts 66, the arms 14 preferably having .an 'oifset portion 16 as shown,

' to afford greater strength. The wheel 61, by

pivotally mounting a link 8|, which at its lower 5 end is pivotally mounted in a block 82, fastened in place by 'U-bolts 83 and a plate 64, which primarily serve to secure the laminations of the springs 20 together.

-It will be seen that the bracket and studshaft 10 66 of each rear wheel, swing as a unit from the axes of such stub shafts, and that the rear wheels move therewith, ,controlled by the link 6|, and the springs 20.

It will be noted.that the side beams H are up- 1 wardly arched adjacent each of the wheels, in order to afford clearance for eifectiveoperatlon of the adjacent parts.

Referring now to Figures 9 and 10, the novel suspension is shown as applied to a trailer. '90 20 designates the body thereof which has only one X-shaped part or spider at 9|. The wheels 92 are mounted and suspended identically like the rear wheels 61, with the exception that there is no transmission and such wheels are freely 25 journaled on stub axles 93, with bearings 94 interposed. Such stub axles 93 extend from hubs or plates 95, being a modification of those at 66.

Referring now to Figures 11 and 12, a modified form of the mounting bracket for the rear 30 wheels, here designated 96, has a longitudinal extension at 91 which may be connected with a dash pot or hydraulic means 98 by a pivot at 99 and which dash pot or hydraulic means in turn,

at Inn, is adapted to be pivoted to the frame l0.

Such dash pot or hydraulic means 96 is of any suitable regulatable type which is adjustable to control the flow of fluid between the parts there of to accordingly control the action of bracket 4 96.

A dash pot or hydraulic means |0| may be. used in connection with the lower bracketwhich mounts the front 'wheels and which bracket is shown generally at I02. This bracket has an arm or extension I03 pivotally connected at I04 to the said dash pot or hydraulic means "II, and which. in turn is pivoted as at I05, to the chassis I0. The dash pot l0l is identical with that at 03.

- It will be observed that I have provided an individual wheel suspension for the front and rear wheels of an automotive .or'other vehicle, by means'of which the wheels are firmly assembled on thechassls frame with generally triangular shaped bracket arms, which rigidly maintain in perfectalinement the wheels with the chassis 5 frame, and at the same time, both the longitudinal and vertical components of road shock imported to the wheels are obsorbed by the five point suspension wheel mechanism.

Various changes may be resorted to provided 6 they: fall within the spirit and scope of' the in-" 'vention.

- brackets rearwardly of its pivot, a wheel molmted 7 on said axle, a rod on the other bracket in vert c al line with said axle, and link .means pivoted to said rod and to said axle. 2. A wheel mounting .in combination with, a chass comprising a beam, a bracket having par- 1 aooasss allel arms disposed diagonally and at their forward ends being on opposite sidesor said beam, a stud shaft pivoting said arms to said beam, a bracket above the first-mentioned bracket pivoted to said beam in vertical line with the rulcrum of the first-mentioned bracket, said brackets having transverse tubular portions arranged one above the other, an axle in the lowermost v diate the ends thereof.

tubular portion, a rod in the uppermost tubular portion, link means pivoted to said axle and to said rod, 9. wheel mounted by said axle, a suspension spring for said beam,and a link pivoted to" said suspension spring intermediate the ends of the latter and to the lowermost bracket interme- POIRIER. 

